Name

Alicia Z Karas MS, DVM, Dipl ACVA

Affiliation

Assistant Professor of Clinical Sciences

Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine

200 Westboro Road

North Grafton, MA 01536

E-mail Address

Alicia.karas@tufts.edu

Degrees, Associations or College

Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition, MS

Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, DVM

Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Residency in Anesthesiology, DACVA

Responsibilities or Duties in the BOD

·    Education and Research Committee

Involvement with Pain Management:

I teach veterinary anesthesiology and pain medicine at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University, and I’m also a pain specialty service clinician. I owe my passion for pain medicine to the teachings of many people, including some of our current BOD members. I am actively involved in the promotion of many aspects of laboratory animal welfare: having recently served on the committee to revise the ILAR Report on Recognition and Alleviation of Pain in Laboratory Animals, have authored numerous works and gives lectures and other continuing education on aspects of animal pain and distress. My research activities include: study of methods of pain assessment and treatment in mice, rabbits and dogs, humane endpoints implementation, positive reinforcement training and research animal stress. I am particularly engaged with the development of an outpatient multidisciplinary pain clinic at Tufts (http://www.tufts.edu/vet/pain/index.htm), and I’m studying the potential role of a gentle hands-on technique for neuromuscular re-education, known as Touch Balancing/Animal Bowen ™.

Hobbies and other activities:

With my husband and our 2 awesome Labrador Retrievers and their doggie and people friends – fun activities: hiking, canoeing, games, ALL positive competition obedience and agility training (meaning NO pain is involved, no “correction”, ever!), as well as yoga and gardening.